AT HALF-TIME on Saturday night, with Sydney bumbling its way along against North Melbourne and its season looking unlikely to be extended by another week, coach Paul Roos produced a guarantee. It wasn't the first time he had used the line, and many of his gathered players would recall the last time.

Rewind to 2005, grand final day. "I gave them a guarantee, and that's something I don't normally do, that if they give their maximum effort for two hours they would win a premiership," said Roos then.

With Sydney's season on the line on Saturday, Roos decided it was time for another guarantee.

"Roosy felt some of us were going a bit half-paced at half-time and he said he could guarantee if we all got on board and played at 100 per cent that we would walk away with a win," said Jude Bolton. "We lifted our intensity and work rate and it opened up for us."

Just two weeks ago, after the team was soundly beaten by Collingwood, Roos declared the team was nearing the end of an era and was "just not capable of producing the performances that they once were".

Since then the Swans have belted Brisbane, then showed in the second half of Saturday's game that maybe they still have enough left to do some damage in September.

"I didn't think about that," Brett Kirk said of the end-of-an-era remark. "It was round 21 and still plenty of footy was left, and there's still plenty of footy left in this team.

"I think the second half showed that. This is when you love playing footy. The game changes. It's more about the pressure and the hits and the work rate and the lift in the enthusiasm and passion, and I think we've got plenty of it. I could really feel it pumping through me."

His midfield partner Jude Bolton concurred. At 28, he said he felt the older players in the team had something to prove. "There's been a fair bit of criticism of our guys and that criticism is probably due," Bolton said. "But we believe we've still got plenty to offer and the experience our guys have had in previous finals stood up."

Many expected the Swans to be bounced out in the opening week of the finals.

"Who cares," said Jarrad McVeigh when asked about surprising those who had discarded them. He was also questioned about whether their style of play is still good enough to win a flag.

"Definitely. See what Geelong are doing? They are hard at the footy, they tackle hard, they move the ball quick … it still works, for us or any other team."

Added Ryan O'Keefe: "It's all about momentum and confidence and if we play like we did in that second half, we can give it a real shake again."

■The Western Bulldogs will today assess stars Robert Murphy and Lindsay Gilbee, who picked up injuries in last Friday night's crushing defeat by Hawthorn. Reports from the club suggest both are expected to fit and available for selection against the Swans on Friday night at the MCG.

Sydney is likely to welcome back Michael O'Loughlin and Craig Bird from injury.